Reporter's Favorites: Alex Beam

My uncle put me in touch with Alex Beam, a columnist for the Boston Globe. He spoke to me for a few minutes about journalism movies and offered his favorite film. He called me back and said "Sorry I'm calling you on the weekend. I hope Im not interrupting. Are you on a sail boat?" Laughingly I responded by saying "Oh, no, I'm just in my room. Thank you for calling me back!" When I asked him the question he first mentioned an interesting film called "Zodiac", but didn't offer it as his favorite necessarily. When I asked him again he responded by saying essentially "I heard your question on my answering machine and wish I had a more creative answer, but I'd have to say 'All the Presidents Men' would be it." He went on to explain his choice by saying "Most of what I know about it [watergate] I know from the movie...First of all, there is a lot of stuff you could say about the movie. Robert Redford is clean cut. Dustin Hoffman is scruffy. You have the Yale educated Woodward and not much information about where Bernstein was educated. Woodward is a very patrician character..." And he contrasts this image with the image of Bernstein in the receptionists office. He goes on to say "[As a viewer one] Feasts on a lot of those details [especially] the portrayal of deep throat which is fictional by nature. Now we know it's Mark Felt, [but at the time] they (Bernstein and Woodward) were not candid about how they got in touch with him. They gave the world this image of meeting him in a garage."

So, a sort of typical answer to the question of favorite journalism film, but in my opinion elegantly explained by Alex Beam.

For some of his columns check out this website. (Image is sourced from this site as well)

Reporter's Favorites

I interviewed two journalists from the Keene Sentinel. Here were their responses:

The first liked All the President's Men because it was an "awesome story, well-made movie, had great actors, and was close to the book." She also liked State of Play because of "all the twists and turns, Russel Crow's desire for the truth."

The second also liked All the President's Men because it was "inspirational and a realistic portrayal of how journalism works." He also liked Absense of Malice because it was a "good lesson of what not to do in journalism."

Reporter's Favorite's - Dave Rattigan

I was able to get in touch with Dave Rattigan - comedian extraordinaire, as well as an award-winning journalist whose work appears in major newspapers, websites and magazines. I asked him what his favorites films about journalism we're, and why.

He told me: "I've never seen All the President's Men from start to finish, So I'll go with the classic comedy The Front Page, which has been remade several times including into His Girl Friday (switching genders for the lead) and Switching Channels (switching the newspaper into a TV newsroom)."

It would be interesting to check out Switching Channels, having never seen it, but having seen His Girl Friday.

He went on to elaborate: "Of that group, I've seen all but Switching Channels, and liked the Jack Lemmon-Water Mathau version of The Front Page the most, probably because of the pairing of the actors. Although the Rosalind Russell-Carey Grant pairing was also excellent, featuring that fast-talking/overlapping dialogue style that really worked well. In all three versions, in a funny way, it depicted the detachment of the reporters from their subject matter -- and made it all about the story, story, story."

That seems to be a running theme throughout this course. Story, story, story. From Carey Grant, to Kirk Douglas, to Faye Dunaway, to Robert DeNiro, it seemed like all the different journalists, for their own different reasons, had completely detached from their subject matter, and only cared about selling papers or geting their scoop.

No Presidesnts, but Kane

I'm glad I've seen at least one of the top favorites!

Mr. Will Broaddus from the Salem News picks Between the Lines for his number one journalism movie. "Based on the now-defunct Real Paper, which was to Boston what the Village Voice was to New York during days when underground/countercultural news was a force to be reckoned with. It's simply a great movie, but also resonates today because it is about a paper that is struggling financially, a problem that confronts the field generally today."

Citizen Kane as number two. "When Orson Welles/Hearst writes that declaration of principles, and publishes it for his readers to see, so they can hold him to them--that's what journalism is all about."

Salvador was Broaddus' third favorite. "This man, a journalist played by James Woods, is divorced, broke, and desperate, but gives him a story to pursue, and he's all over it, with a vengenace."

Top 3

After contacting Salem News, Gloucester Times, Boston Globe, NY Times, and the Standard Times, the latter finally came through.

Andy Pomolonis of the Standard Times based out of Newbedford, MA loved All the President's Men, naturally. He claimed it was the movie that "kicked off the whole rush to be a journalist." Pomolonis said knowingly that "everybody wanted to be the next Woodward and Bernstein."

His second favorite was a 1931 film directed by Lewis Milestone simply because of it is a "classic."

His third favorite was Absence of Malice, an 80's film starring Paul Newman and Sally Field.

All the President's Men clearly stands out above the others that Pomolonis remembers.

Interview: Journalist's Favorite Movies

  The second professional reporter I interviewed was my very own neighbor Jeannie Stromgren who has “had 30 years of on-air and print writing experience for local, network and national stations and publications.” Jeannie’s first favorite journalism movie is Ace in the Hole. She said that previous newspaper films portrayed the business as “wacky fun”.” Ace in the Hole changed that by showing “unlikeable characters doing shameless things.” Jeannie thinks the film has an importance because “it exposes the unpleasant truth of how a "human interest story" is often milked for newspaper circulation.”

  Jeannie’s second favorite journalism film is Broadcast News. Jeannie has worked at “three television stations” and she was very impressed by how accurate Broadcast News is. The dysfunction of the characters, the hectic busyness of a newsroom and the believability of the situations give the film credibility. Jeannie mentioned how James L. Brooks shadowed an actual TV producer and it shows in the film. Too often Hollywood gets it wrong but Broadcast News “gets it right.”

   Jeannie’s final favorite journalism movie (and one of my personal favorites) is Good Night and Good Luck. The riveting tale of Edward R. Murrow’s takedown of Senator McCarthy’s terror campaign is incredible. Jeannie says that “any journalist worth his salt has heard of Murrow and his groundbreaking work.” Jeannie says that, “George Clooney (of all people!) captures the methodical, smart, relentless way that Murrow pursued the truth behind McCarthy’s witch hunts.” I couldn’t agree more with her final statement that you know you’re watching a good film when you forget that you’re “watching a movie, and instead, become completely absorbed in the story.”

Interview: Journalist's Favorite Movies

            The first professional reporter I talked to was Alan Burke, a staff reporter over at the Salem News. The first movie Alan listed was His Girl Friday. Mr. Burke said that Friday shows the “atmosphere among reporters in the business.” Of course he made mention that Friday has some terrible morals but he loved the scene where the girl jumps out the window. He loved how she told off the reporters right before she does jump, they deserved every word because for them “misery is a commodity.”

            Mr. Burke’s second movie was All the President’s Men. He didn’t have too much to say about it except that the film showed the process of journalism very well. Mr. Burke made mention of how realistic it was how long they were on the phone during the movie, especially how difficult it is to interview people who don’t want to be interviewed.

            The final movie that Mr. Burke listed was The Sweet Smell of Success. The movie shows how much power a newspaper can have. Burt Lancaster’s character is based off of real life columnist Walter Winchell. Mr. Burke likes the film because of how it shows that truth does a lot of damage. Mr. Burke mentioned that when he was investigating things he found out some weird stuff about people. Revealing those things in a paper could become an issue for the readers. Mr. Burke also made quick mention of The Paper. I thought it was great that every movie he listed was one that I enjoyed when we watched it for this class.